Should the Eagles Use Franchise Tag on Sam Bradford?

NFL teams will be able to place the franchise tag on potential free agents for the first time starting today. While the window for franchise tags opens today and ends on Tuesday, March 1 - most teams will take their time deciding on if they want to place the tag on a particular player.

One play the Eagles might consider tagging is quarterback Sam Bradford, ESPN.com NFL insider joined Scott Grayson on the Sports Bash Monday and said the team should do whatever it takes to get Bradford back - including tagging him.

"If you get rid of Bradford, what do you have at quarterback," asks Joyner. "You gong to get a rookie in the draft? You going to get a in free agency? There is nobody in free agency that is better than Bradford. I'd just slap that franchise tag on him."

The franchise tag number for quarterbacks is expected to be about $19.7 million this season, which means tagging Bradford would require the Eagles to carry around $20 million in cap space until a long-term deal could be reached.

About two week ago, ESPN.com NFL Insider Adam Schefter reported the Eagles had already decided not to use the franchise tag on Bradford, but Joyner says that it was Bradford's play on the field that should warrant the tag if the two sides can't agree to a long-term deal.

"If you look at his season in its entirety, it was actually a pretty good campaign for him," Joyner said. "I have a feeling if they keep working with their wide receiver talent and keep everything in place, that's why its important to keep Bradford, keep some consistency, I have a feeling you'd see a a lot better performance out of these receivers."

Bradford is only 28, but injuries have forced him to miss almost two full seasons, but he was relatively healthy in 2015 and by staying healthy, Joyner thinks he showed he could be a top-10 quarterback in the league.

"From week nine to the end of the season, no quarterback did better on vertical passes, on a yards per attempt basis." Joyner explained about Bradford's ability to throw the ball down the field, based on a metric he uses. "He led the league in that category - better than Cam Newton, better than Russell Wilson - he was the best down-field passer the second half of the season. If you have that kind of ceiling, if if takes $22 million, then pay $22 million, get him."

So Eagles fans...are you willing to pay Sam Bradford whatever it takes to keep him in Philadelphia?